Paint surfaced flooring body



Feb. 2 1932. N. CAMPBELL 1,843,357.

PAINT SURFACED FLOORING BODY Filed July 30, 1926 IN V EN TOR.

A TTORNEY.

I :23 BY Fetentecl Feb. 2 1932 NEED: GAJL'IPBELL, @F GLENDALE, 6310,

ASSIGHGR, BY MESJTE ASSIGNWNTS, T

MILLS XKQUROMTEQZ 0E GEQ'CINNATI, OHIO, A COBEGRATIQN' 0h SEED EAZZ YTSURFACEB FLOUEIING BQDZ' Application filed July 30,

My invention relates to rugs formed of a felt saturated with bituminoussubstance, and coated on the wear surface with a body of suitable paint,formed into a design which 55 either represents a closed pattern, or isdi rectly made up as a rug design, or has so small and indeterminate afigure repeated throughout the design that any desired section cut froma printed sheet will serve as a w rug, as distinguished from printedgoods in the piece. As an example of rugs'formed without a regularclosed border, I refer to a piece of material printed up to representtiling, for example, which can be cut into rug :5 sizes and used asfloor covering, as distinguished from laying the complete floor withstrips of the same which covers the floor from base board to base board.

I confine my invention to rugs since one of the requisites of a rug isthat it shall be of flatlaying qualities, and will not curl at the edgesorwarp throughout its length while in use, because rugs by custom arelaid on the floor toincompletely cover the extent of space between thewalls, and are supposed to be movable from place to place, and laidwithout tacking down or holding down with strips, .s is the practicewith linoleums, oil cloths, and the like.

In confine my invention to asphalt saturated felts, or felts saturatedwith similarly acting bitumens for several reasons which will beapparent, one of them being that the efiect of the heavy body ofsomewhat plastic bitumen is to make the rug hug the floor and lay flatthereon.

A great industry has grown up in print surfacedasphalt saturated .feltas a rug, in 49 which it has been customary, and believed to benecessary, to have a coat of paint on the back or unexposed side of thebody, which coat was thin, and partially absorbed into the felt bod-y.The reason for this coat was to finish the back to simulate linoleumsome 1928. firerial No. 126,035.

coat to shrink or expand 'difierentl from the 50,

and thus top paint coat would be negative flat on the the paint surfacedrug would lie floor.

In the past, due to process requirements linoleums have been backed.with burlap. This was because the material making up the linoleum wasplaced on the burlap as a carrier in the sheet manufacturing process.Burlap has a function of strengthening the linoleum body considerably,and gives a good back appearancewhen properly colored. It has beensupposed, however, to contribute to a tendency of linoleum to curl inuse, because the walking. uponthe top body pressed it outwardly towardthesides in a manner as regular or irregular dependent upon the mannerof use, with the result that the burlap back of the rug did not stretchandthe composition top did stretch, resulting in a curl- .ing product.

It is the object of my invention to provide a paint surfaced bitumensaturated felt body, and to back it with a material which is so light oropen in texture, and preferably so elastic in weave as to contribute nopractical curling tendency to the product during use.

It is the further object of my invention to utilize a colored wovenbody, which because u of its open work nature is such, when adhesivelysecured to the bitumen saturated felt,

\ to show the black of the asphalt through the colored mesh of thefabric, giving a richness of color, not obtainable otherwise.

It is the further object to use a thin fabric, with a transparentadhesive, of sufficient thickness to imbed the threads of thefabric intothe adhesive, thus protecting the fabric itself against deterioration.

It is further an object to use a fabric in which the weave is such as toeliminate aand the woof, so that greatest flexibility is obtained, andso that a liberation of one gerated in showing of a thread during usewill not result in a lifting away of a series of threads, thus exposinga patch of black in the back of the product.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a section exagiece of material produced inaccordance wit my invention.

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of a section of the rug body muchexaggerated.

Fig. 3 is a perspective enlarged of the preferred fabric used as abacking,

Fig. 4 is a perspective of a rug with closed design pattern. I

In process of manufacture a strip of felt suitable for flooring purposesis passed through a saturating bath, and filled w1th bitumen, renderingit black, and retaining some plasticity in the body while making itinert to water, chemicals, and other deteriorating conditions. When thesaturant is fixed, the body has applied to it a transparent glue orcementing agent of whatever nature is desired, so long as it isresistant to water, cleaning compounds, and is resilient, and lasting inits character. The fabric is then applied to the surface wet with theglue, and the felt is passedthrough pressing rollers, resulting in thefabricbelng imbedded in the glue, and the glue setting and permanentlyinding a smooth covering of the fabric to the felt.

The piece is then passed through the usual paint decorating processeswhereby it is given suitable base or priming color, and suitable designto make a body usable as a rug. in a self-supporting condition on thefloor of a building.

Referring now to the product itself, I have indicated a saturated feltbody 1, on the top of 'w'hich is a wear surface of paint 2, which.

as per Figure 2 will preferably be formed in a closed design pattern. Onthe back of the felt body, which has a black base color, is the film ofglue, in which is imbedded the colored or uncolored fabric 4.

Referring to the fabric, it will be noted that the real essentialrequirement is that of an open weave so as to expose the black betweenthe crossed threads. A preferred requirement is that the threads be nottied to each other except by mere weaving, of say a basket weave type.

I have illustrated a fabric similar to mosquito netting, in which thewarp threads are merely woven in basket weave with relation tothe woofthreads. Such a fabric is quite elastic except for a direct pull on thewa or woof threads, which is not likely to develop.

into any curling tendency in the completed body, or at least tocontribute insufficiently to any curling tendency, so as to impart thisquality to a flooring same tendency anyhow.

body not having the The appearance of the back has a sort of a sheen dueto the relatively predominant area of black showing through whatevercolor is imparted to the fabric threads. The color in the fabric will beimparted by dies.

It is a fact that the usual backing of paint surface felt base rugs,namely the thin coat of paint, partially absorbed in the felt due tobeing applied before the asphalt has set, does not provide any realprotection to the fabric, and little or no strength. The exposure of theusual thin paint coat to water'will deteriorate it decidedly, and theglue coating is much more efi'ective in preventing a softening ofthe-back of the felt with water, such as may be present in a kitchen orbeneath a stationary washst-and or the like.

The strength imparted by the very open weave fabric, while insufficientto contribute to a warping or curling tendency, is still enough to varysubstantially the tendency of the felt to crack when bent into a pointedcrease, and it gives a fabric appearance to the back when viewed from.other than a very close inspection, which is apparently a completecoverage of the .back of the rug. There is no stickiness, nmrequirementthat the asphalt saturant be penetrated by the glue, and the rug tendsto cling to the floor against lengthwise slippage, much better than thepresent aint surfaced felt base rugs.

The fabric di ers widely from the fabric back of the linoleum art, andformed composite structure of fabric and paper, in that it does notserve as a retaining body for a decorative top coat, is not strongenough to contribute a warping tendency, and is so open in weave as toexpose a preponderant blackness that is to the eye a mere enrichening ofthe color produced, with no black showing to the eye except upon a veryclose inspection.

The fabric is very cheap, very -li ht in weight, and its strength isincreased y imbedding the threads in the glue used to cause it to adhereto the saturated felt.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is 1. A body of bitumen saturated felt suitablefor floor covering, having a desi formed'in paints on the wear surfacesuitable for rug purposes as distinguished from strip goods, and havingon its backa coating of transparent glue in which is imbedded-a light,open work, fabric, leaving interstices through which the black of thesaturated felt will show sufficiently to contribute an enrichment of thecolor of the fabric, said fabric being insufficient in weight tocontribute curling tendency to the rug body.

2. A body of bitumen saturated felt suitable for floor covering, havinga design formed in paints on the wear surface suitable for rug purposesas distinguished from strip amass? goods, and having on its back a,coating 0f transparent glue in which is imbedded a light, open work,fabric, leaving interstices throu%h which the black of the saturatedfelt will s ow suficientlly to contribute an enrichment of the color offine fabric, said fabric being insufiicient in weight to contributecurling tendency to the rug bnfiiy, mid saifi fabric being iemw; ofthreuds woven with relatiun to each other wifi'lhmib tying theme? at thepoints on? (ima ing mi said threads,

3h CAMPBELL.

